{"bills":[{"photos":{"featured":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hjres40-115/featured_providing-for-congressional-disapproval-under-chapter-8-of-title-5-united-states-code-of-the-rule-submitted-by--1487116098.jpg","featured_large":"https://assets.causes.com/bill/photo/hjres40-115/featured_large_providing-for-congressional-disapproval-under-chapter-8-of-title-5-united-states-code-of-the-rule-submitted-by--1487116098.jpg","shareable":"https://n.causes.com/share-images/bills/hjres40-115.png"},"introduced_on":"2017-01-30","title_override":"Should a Rule Requiring the Gov't to Add “Mental Defectives” to a Criminal Background Check Database be Repealed?","summary_override":"

This resolution would repeal a regulation issued by the Social Security Administration (SSA) that requires the agency to submit personal information about beneficiaries deemed by the government to be “mental defectives” to the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) if they’re unable to manage their own affairs and qualify for disability.

The regulation was finalized during the final weeks of the Obama administration, and was intended to prevent people with a “mental disorder” who receive disability benefits through a person responsible for their well-being from purchasing a firearm. The SSA maintains a list of mental disorders that would be used in referring individuals’ information to the NICS, which includes anxiety, bipolar disorder, depression, eating disorders, PTSD, and schizophrenia among other intellectual and personality disorders. Under the rule, people denied the ability to purchase a gun would be able to petition to have that right restored, but wouldn’t be afforded the ability to challenge the right being taken away in the first place.

Under the Congressional Review Act, Congress can overturn regulations issued within the last 60 legislative days with simple majority votes in both chambers. The resolution would need to be signed into law by the president to take effect.

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(Current law prohibits firearm sale or transfer to and purchase or possession by a person who has been adjudicated as a mental defective.)","summarized":true,"cost":null,"cost_commentary":"A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.","impact":"People who would be reported to the NICS by the SSA; and the SSA.","argument_for":"The Social Security Administration’s regulation is too broad and could deny law abiding citizens with no history of violence their right to own a firearm under the Second Amendment. No one wants the mentally ill to possess guns, but the rule creates more problems than it solves.","argument_against":"The Social Security Administration’s regulation specifies that only people who have qualified for disability because of a mental disorder and are unable to manage their own affairs would be reported to the criminal background check database. 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Should a Rule Requiring the Gov't to Add “Mental Defectives” to a Criminal Background Check Database be Repealed?